11: Dream Development

Saying something that is completely untrue in order to manipulate a person to be in favor with one would never be justifiable no matter what the reason is. Even by simply telling a person that one is wealthy for the other person to like one more is immoral. Lies of commission are what they would be called, and Olivia was good at using those.

Ever since Olivia shared her story about having a miserable life in order to gain the attention and sympathy of Dakota, the latter changed—just a little bit. Dakota used to make it obvious that she did not want Olivia being around but now she was trying her best to hide it in case she hurts Olivia again. As if Dakota had always cared about hurting people’s feelings.

The following days after that day when Olivia started telling lies about her life to Dakota were becoming entertaining for Olivia as she actually got to meet the latter every day. She went from visiting the convenience store after school every day with hope to meet Dakota again at least once to actually meeting her every day as soon as she finishes her classes.

They may not meet at the convenience store or the alleyway where the four men were knocked out by Dakota but it was near them. Mobi Street was their meeting place, and it was as if they actually planned it out when Dakota never asked for it or her.

Fortunately, Olivia had not completely forgotten about her real life as she decided to call Theodore first to ask him to go shopping together after classes on Friday. She knew that he was most likely upset for skipping shopping day last week and that he might think that she was changing because of something, which would not be a good thing.

And she was lucky that her best friend could not stay upset at her for a long time.

“What did you do last Friday that you couldn’t go shopping with me?” Theodore asked as they stepped in a boutique that seemed to have black-and-white as their aesthetic.

“I told you. Female time and you don’t have to know,” Olivia simply replied as she took a pair of pink wayfarer sunglasses and wore it. “What do you think?”

“You look great—why don’t I have to know? You know that I can understand anything for you.”

“Yep. That is why you don’t have to know.” The blonde tried on a pair of oversized sunglasses next. “How about this?”

“You look nice—I don’t get it. What does me being able to understand stuff have anything to do with that?” His eyebrows furrowed in utter confusion as he watched his best friend try on the other pairs of sunglasses in front of the small mirror, totally ignoring everything he was saying. “Are you ignoring me?”

“I am, actually.” The blonde pulled the sunglasses halfway from her face as she winked at her own reflection before turning to face the brunet. “What are you doing, staring? I asked you to go shopping with me, not watch me shop alone.”

“God, Olivia Jean.” Theodore heaved a heavy sigh as he rubbed his face before giving up in trying to get an answer to his question that had been bothering him since last week.

It was not like he could do anything anyway. If Theodore was stubborn to the point that he would annoy the hell out of people just to get the truth from them, then Olivia could make people cry blood for either never giving them the answers they want or forcing them to give her the answers she wants.

It took half an hour until they decided to leave the boutique with a bunch of paper bags which were mostly filled with the pairs of sunglasses Olivia tried on. They were about to head to the next store when the blonde saw a familiar figure walking from a far distance with their hands buried in their pockets. When she saw the red highlights on the person’s hair, that was when she realized who it was as she quickly turned around.

“What’s wrong? Did you forget to buy something?” Theodore asked as he peeked in the bags. “That’s weird. You literally bought every pair of sunglasses.”

“No. Let’s watch a movie,” Olivia said as she let out a chuckle, more like out of nervousness.

“In the cinema here? Now?” The brunet raised an eyebrow.

As far as Theodore knew, his best friend would undoubtedly rather go shopping for five hours instead of watching a 2-hour movie.

“Yes. I heard ‘Occult Project 4’ is out in the theaters now.” The blonde held the hem of the taller boy’s shirt as she slowly pulled him away. Far from Dakota.

“‘Occult Project 4’? But you’ve never watched the previous parts—”

“Jesus, stop talking and let’s go watch it now!” The blonde then pulled him away with much more force.

Theodore obeyed her.

While they were standing in line to the counter, Theodore could not help but notice how Olivia seemed distracted with the way she kept cautiously looking around the mall as if she was afraid of getting caught by something or someone.

“Are you hiding from someone?” the brunet could not help but ask.

“Huh? No. Why did you think that?” The blonde smiled to cover the fact that she was indeed hiding from someone.

“You keep looking around.”

“My dad is recently mad at me for buying too much stuff nowadays. It would be embarrassing to get yelled at here in the mall if ever he sees me,” she naturally lied.

“Why would your dad be here in the mall?” he asked.

“Doesn’t have to be him. If you know, you know.”

The brunet nodded as he understood what she meant and decided to not question her any more. Knowing her father and his status, he could easily command his employees to watch over his daughter anywhere she goes if he wants to.

After buying their tickets to one of the horror movies that was currently popular globally, Olivia quickly headed inside after telling Theodore to go get their popcorn and drinks with the excuse to not lose seats. As soon as she sat on her seat that was at the back and corner, she let out a relieved sigh as she knew that it was most unlikely for Dakota to come in the theater.

***

Olivia was able to forget about the fact that she was in the same mall as Dakota because of the horror film they watched which made her not want to stay at home alone anymore. It was that traumatizing.

“You sure you can sleep well tonight?” Theodore asked with a teasing smile on his face as he stopped the car in front of the girl’s mansion.

“Oh, shut up! I was just forgetting about it.” Olivia groaned when the scene from the movie where the possessed characters start to slowly walk toward the camera with freaky smiles appeared in her mind once again.

The brunet laughed as he watched her get out of his car with a huff. It was a cute sight even though she was literally pissed off.

“Don’t forget to pray every night!” The brunet let out a loud laugh as he quickly started the car and drove away before his atheist best friend could even throw something at his car.

The blonde shouted a couple more curse words before calming back down as she went inside the mansion with her shopping bags. After that movie, she was more grateful than usual that Amy sleeps at their mansion.

Olivia then did her daily routine—which was to leave all of her things in her bedroom, change into clothes of unknown brand names, remove her makeup, and wait at least ten minutes in her bedroom before leaving the mansion. Since she came back home with Theodore, there was a possibility for him to still be nearby which was why she had to wait for a few minutes before leaving.

As soon as ten minutes had passed, Olivia excitedly got off her bed and went out while making sure to not be obvious of being excited to meet a certain someone outside. Even though the mansion was quite far from the road on foot, she had already gotten used to it—in fact, she was glad to even be able to get exercise from meeting Dakota.

Olivia walked around Mobi Street until she saw the person she was looking for doing her usual thing. Dakota had her hands buried in the pockets of her hoodie as she walked past the aisles in a small grocery store. As the self-proclaimed partner of Dakota, Olivia immediately went to join her as she stood in front of a worker who was about to go to the aisle where Dakota was.

“Hi! Do you know where the oyster sauce is? I looked everywhere but I can’t find it. There’s no way you don’t have any oyster sauce here, a grocery store,” Olivia spoke with a polite smile on her face.

“Oh, uh. Follow me,” the worker scratched his head as he started to walk away from the aisle.

Dakota looked up as the blonde turned around and gave her a wink in which she just slightly shook her head in disbelief. This was not the first time Olivia helped Dakota in making shoplifting easier, but the latter had just not gotten used to it yet.

“Thank you!”

Her (or their) mission accomplished quickly thanks to the blonde as they then left the store without purchasing anything. Dakota always preferred working alone for no disturbance though she realized that it was easier and faster to have someone help her.

“Follow me,” Dakota suddenly said as she walked across the pedestrian lane when the vehicles stopped at the red light.

Though she was confused, Olivia still followed her without uttering a word.

The two of them continued to walk until they arrived at a small park that some people may not know the existence of because of how there were barely any people hanging out at the park. Dakota stopped as they stood in front of a pond where they could clearly see the sun beginning to set.

“Pretty,” the blonde muttered as she was left mesmerized by the bright sun coming to kiss the horizon.

“Yeah. Like this.” Dakota suddenly grabbed her hand and placed a silver ring in it. “I’m not proposing to you, by the way. It’s the other way around?”

Olivia looked at the ring and back to her with furrowed eyebrows in confusion. “What?”

“You were proposing to be partners in crime, right? I’m saying yes, idiot.”

Olivia had something else to think about all night instead of the horror movie now.